Itinerary set! Now for some specific tour questions!

Hi Caron -

If we buy Colosseum tickets from the actual website, am I
understanding correctly that they include entrance to, but no tour of,
the Forum?

Correct. Coopculture doesn't currently offer a human-guided tour of the Forum or Palatine, and I would agree that BOTH of them benefit from an experienced guide. What I might suggest? Book a tour with one of the more recommended independent companies that offer a combo Colosseum+Forum+ Palatine tour. As the three sites are in the same vicinity, it makes sense to do them all together, and a combo tour will make that easy. Just a couple of the companies that have been highly recommended by RS posters who've used them:

Walks of Italy; this tour includes the Colosseum's underground (not all of them do):
https://www.walksofitaly.com/rome-tours/colosseum-underground-tours/

Without the underground:
https://www.walksofitaly.com/rome-tours/roman-colosseum-tours/

The Roman Guy: this one includes the underground:
https://theromanguy.com/tours/italy/rome/colosseum-dungeons-tour-with-roman-forum-palantine-hill

... the Vatican, I am seeing on their website a ticket that gives you
a museum tour and entrance to the Sistine Chapel. Under their FAQ, it
says this does not include St. Peter's, as access is free and unable
to be scheduled. Will we be able to enter it ourselves without having
to exit and wait in line to enter?

Just to make sure you're not confused, the Sistine is IN the museums and doesn't require a separate ticket to see, whether with a tour or on your own. No, there currently is no access to St Peter's from inside the museums so yes, you'll have to join the queue at the basilica's exterior entrance to visit that one.

I'm wondering if the crypt area below is accessible to all

Yes, the crypt, - also called the Vatican Grottoes - where many of the popes are entombed, is open to all without a tour; it is accessed from inside the basilica. Just don't confuse that with the necropolis more commonly called the Scavi, which is further underground and accessible only with a small group guided tour. That's the area where some believe St. Peter is buried. You can't book that tour through the Vatican's website; here's the contact info if interested:

http://www.scavi.va/content/scavi/en/ufficio-scavi.html

Does this help? :O)

Walks of Italy (Walks) also has some tours in Venice. I haven't taken mine yet (it was scheduled for August 2020), but I am rescheduled for August 2022.

I wanted to report that this company did make good on the vouchers they made available in 2020 and even added enough value to the vouchers that I am able to take my originally scheduled tour in Venice (Venice in a Day) and add a tour in Rome (Colosseum underground tour with Roman Forum and Palatine Hill). They come well recommended by those who have taken tours with them and I can attest to their customer concern and follow up.

I tried to find my original post and didn't know how!

Easy. If you are on a web browser, when you are logged in take the mouse to the upper right corner of the page here, and hover over "My Account". Click on "Travel Forum" that drops down, and then you will see what you have bookmarked and everything you have written to, both your own posts and posts of others you have posted to. At this moment you have made 5 posts and zero replies so it shouldn't be hard to find.

If you are on a phone or tablet it will different, you probably tap the hamburger and look under there for the same links.

Or just click on your name in your post
A link to all your posts will show on that page

Entering St Peters is free but its the security line you have to wait to go through.

If you are with a tour you can go directly into St. Peter’s from the Sistine Chapel, but otherwise you have to exit, gomall the way around to St. Oeter’s and go thru security.

In Florence be sure to go to the Duomo Museum.

Someone posted recently that the door from the Sistine Chapel into St. Peters has been closed for quite some time and remains so at the moment. I have not sought to verify that.

Right. The previous interior route from Sistine into Basilica has been closed for some time, even for tours. As it was a passage reserved for escorted tours, it was never a route individual tourists could rely upon, even if it did work for some of them in the past.

Editing to add: Walks of Italy, The Roman Guy, and Context all include a disclaimer regarding direct passage between museums and basilica. Roman Guy's museum+ basilica tour statement:

As of June 23rd, 2021, the Vatican has closed the "licensed guide
entrance" to St Peter’s Basilica for all tour companies and tour
guides. Therefore a guided visit to the Basilica won’t be possible due
to the distance between sites.

Other companies are doing the same, adding time to accommodate the longer outside walk between the two, or saying they'll include the basilica if there's time to do so.

3 nights Venice, nothing scheduled except Doge's palace and a cicchetti bar tour one night.

Although you didn't really ask, while in Venice you might want to devote a full day to going to the islands of Murano and Burano. If time allows, you might also check out the island of Torcello. In Venice itself, we found a trip to the Jewish Ghetto to be most interesting.

Thanks, everyone. Just the info I was looking for. Looks like Walks of Italy or the Roman Guy will be the best route for the Colosseum and Forum. Regarding the chapel to basilica door, I had seen conflicting things from different sources. One was that the usage of the door was discontinued due to Covid, so I was hoping that by May it would be in use again, but perhaps that's not the reason. TC, yes, an island or two is most likely part of the plan in Venice, just not something that requires booking ahead. And Stephen, I did forget to list the Duomo in our Florence plans. Thoughts on whether to do that on the David day, and leave one full city day unscheduled? Or better to do them on separate days, leaving the rest of the two days to wander?